Month: January 2019

The day is finally here. The historic ‘United India Rally’ will take place at the Brigade Parade Grounds today, where several national leaders including a former prime minister and several union ministers, sitting chief ministers and former chief ministers will be present.

Trinamool Chairperson Mamata Banerjee had announced from the stage of Ekushe July Shahid Dibas in 2018 that a mega Opposition rally will be held at Brigade Parade Grounds. This is the culmination of her vision.

She has said time and again that the January 19 rally will pave the way for 2019 Parliamentary elections as Opposition leaders will come together to chalk out the roadmap to dethrone the BJP-led government at Centre.

There will be five stages. The main stage, which will come up in front of the fountain opposite the Victoria Memorial Hall, will accommodate senior leaders including Mamata Banerjee.

On the right of the main stage there will be two stages, one for the MPs and State Government ministers and the other for the district presidents and functionaries.

On the left of the main dais too will be two stages – one for those from the cultural world and another on which cultural programmes will be held.

The party workers who started coming to Kolkata from the districts from Thursday, January 17 are being accommodated at Gitanjali Stadium, Khudiram Anushilan Kendra, Sector V and Central Park, Salt Lake and in dharamshalas in central and north Kolkata. From these places, the supporters will start marching towards ground zero at 6am.

A thousand-strong group of folk artistes from Jhargram will also take part in the rally. There will be around 100 camps spread across the city to assist the attendees. More than 2,000 party supporters will be engaged as volunteers.

Photo: Brigade Rally 2014

Trinamool Chairperson and Bangla Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today reviewed the safety and security arrangements at Brigade Parade Grounds, ahead of the mega rally on January 19, 2019.

The Brigade rally will be attended by many chief ministers, former chief ministers, ex-Prime Ministers and important party leaders. There will be leaders from Delhi, Bihar, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Assam, Arunachal, Mizoram, and many other States.

The Trinamool Chairperson said that the mega rally on Saturday will be ‘United India Rally’. “The stage will be set for the fight against BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Every leader will share their party’s message on the occasion,” she said, adding that this year’s rally will be bigger than the one heald forty years ago at the same venue.

She said, “It is important to listen to the other leaders who are coming on Jan 19. We will listen to all points of view. We will not foist our ideology on anybody. This is a democratic system. So let everybody give their opinion. This is a courtesy.”

Regarding the upcoming general elections, she said that regional parties will play a significant role. She said, BJP will not get more than 125 seats. On the issue of alliance, she said that it will be an alliance of political parties with the people.

It may be mentioned that in 1993, Mamata Banerjee had organised a mega rally at Brigade, where she had sounded the death knell for the Left Front Government.

The Bangla Government has decided to go ahead and construct the deep sea port in Tajpur in Purba Medinipur district all by itself, said Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee recently.

This decision was taken recently keeping in mind the fact that the Trinamool Congress Government has successfully ventured into fields never done before. It would also mean that the State would not have to depend on the Centre for money or materials.

Modalities like the project cost, time for starting the project, completion period, etc. are being looked into, for which an agency has been engaged.

Besides building the port, back-up infrastructure such as roads, bridges and railway tracks for inland transportation of goods to and from the port would also be built.

The nearest national highway is just 5km away and railway line, 11km away.

Besides Tajpur Port, the State Government has also received the necessary clearances from the Centre for developing a port in Kulpi in South 24 Parganas district.

Source: The Statesman

With two days to go for the mammoth rally at the Brigade Parade Ground, a host of senior leaders have confirmed their participation and the venue is tipped to witness history in the making with the biggest public meeting in the last four decades being held there.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday asserted that her party’s proposed Opposition rally on January 19 will see participation of non-BJP parties from “Kashmir to Kanyakumari”.

“You will witness how big the representation will be this year from all regions. Heavyweight national leaders, including a former Prime Minister and ex-Chief Ministers will attend this meeting,” she told reporters at Nabanna.

Mamata Banerjee had announced the Brigade Parade Ground rally from the stage of Martyrs’ Day rally meeting on July 21, 2018. The main purpose of the rally is to take a pledge to build a strong, united and progressive India.

 

Bangla has risen to the sixth position in the country in terms of the number of foreign tourists coming to the State, overtaking hotspots like Goa and Kerala.

While stating this at a recent summit in Kolkata organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the chairman of the tourism subcommittee of the organisation said that this is the result of the various policy initiatives that the Trinamool Congress Government has been taking.

The State has made huge progress in terms of quality of service, reliability and affordability, which have provided a major impetus to tourism, he said.

More than 71 million tourists visited the State in 2018, as per a report of the Union Ministry of Tourism.

At the summit, members of the CII suggested a slew of measures that the State can take to bring in more tourists – river tourism, heritage tourism in places Murshidabad, Bankura and Birbhum, and developing entertainment hubs in places in and around Kolkata like Park Street, Tangra, Sector V and New Town.

Source: The Times of India

 

The standing committee of the state Cabinet on Wednesday approved investment proposals to the tune of Rs 750 crore among which Britannia Industries alone will invest Rs 300 crore. The development was announced by state Education and Parliamentary Affairs minister Partha Chatterjee at Nabanna after the meeting of the Cabinet standing committee of Industry, Commerce and Enterprise that was chaired by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at Nabanna.

The land allotment for Britannia will be 75.35 acre in one of the industrial parks under the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC). The company will choose the site of its project in consultation with the state government. There are around 18 industrial parks under the WBIDC at various parts of the state including Kolkata, Purulia, Bankura, North 24-Parganas, Howrah to name a few.

“We have approved applications from eight companies including that of Britannia. Our focus has always been on generation of jobs and we are hopeful that this investment will generate good amount of employment,” Partha Chatterjee said.

Apart from 75.35 acres land for Britannia, the standing committee also approved the allotment of 5068.1 square feet module in the parks under the WBIDC.

 

With the encouragement of the State Transport Department, Kolkata would soon see women driving taxis. This would be another step in the Bangla Government’s efforts towards empowering women.

According to department officials, several women have been enquiring in recent times regarding permission for driving taxis, and so the State Government has taken this step.

Initially, the taxis would be only for women passengers. Changes to this rule may be made in the days to come.

The bonnet and top portion of these women-driven taxis would be pink in colour while the rest of the body would be white.

Source: Bartaman

The State Government is going to organise the three-day Bengal Beach Festival – from February 1 to 3 – on the beaches of Digha, Mandarmani and Tajpur.

These three places have, over the last few years, become beach hotspots, with hundreds of people arriving all through the year. Many people from outside the State too are coming to these places nowadays.

So, the government is trying to make the places more attractive to tourists. The Bengal Beach Festival is an effort to promote the beach towns more widely. As part of the beach festival, there would be a sea food festival too.

There would be various activities at these places during the three days of the festival. The activities include a marathon, spot quizzes, photography competitions, drum competitions. People would be able to indulge in a range of water sports and helicopter joy rides during the festival.

Source: Khabar 365 Din

On January 2, 2019, the State Government started an anti-tobacco campaign in its schools. It was inaugurated by the Education Minister at Bidhannagar High School in Kolkata.

This is a pilot project, and involves schools of Kolkata, Barrackpore, Hooghly, Siliguri, and the district of Paschim Bardhaman. Later, the project would be extended to all government secondary and higher secondary schools, said the minister.

While inaugurating the campaign, he said, to protect our future generations from the bad effects of tobacco, the government has seen fit to extensively run this anti-tobacco campaign.

Source: The Statesman

The State Government has decided to turn Jhargram, Kalimpong and Alipurduar into ‘green districts’. This was announced recently by the State Environment Minister at a programme in Kolkata.

There would be certain measures taken to make these three districts, ‘green districts’, said the minister. Among them are making electric public transport vehicles like electric buses and e-rickshaws popular, completely banning vehicles more than 15 years old and plastic (packets, etc.), and increasing the green cover across the districts.

The three districts were chosen as they are generally considered to be backward, and these are also regions well-known for their pristine environments.

Source: Ei Samay